There has been much confusion lately about the revised FHA Regulations regarding FHA Guaranteed loans for condominiums. The FHA itself is partly to blame for some of this confusion because they established Regulations, then modified them within 30 days in response to pressure from outside the FHA.

So, depending on the date you read something within the last quarter of 2009, you could have read conflicting information about the requirement for reserve studies for condominium associations.

Let us set the record straight!

1) FHA DOES require reserve studies for most condominium associations.

3) Facilities Advisors International has been preparing reserve studies for more than thirty years.

Most people think that because FHA backed off from the 60% funded requirement that reserve studies are no longer required. We believe differently, because we read the Regulations. We've also discussed this with a number of FHA lenders that agree, after a careful reading of FHA Mortgagee Letter 2009-46 B, that the wording of that letter still does require the existence of a reserve study for a qualifying condominium project in most key states.

We have developed a special site devoted solely to this subject. FHA-reserve-study.com contains the full text of the FHA "Mortgagee Letters" which set forth the FHA Regulations.